French Camp at its Finest

And I thought October was busy in French Camp. Well, November was too. Only for different reasons.

First off, we celebrated our same day birthdays on the 1^st.  We had many people here at French Camp wishing us a happy birthday and during dinner at the dining hall most of the girls from the Griffin House went to the podium during announcements to sing Happy Birthday to us. So sweet! We also received a bucket filled with yummies from my co-workers in the Admin office. So very thoughtful. So very grateful. Bill received an early birthday present from our daughter and he thoroughly enjoyed setting it up for some bow hunting. Can you find it?

The very next day was also very special. I’ve always admired horses as beautiful creatures but I’ve been afraid of them (like I’ve been of most animals until Bill helped me overcome a lot of those fears). I’m especially fearful of riding. Two things I don’t like…being high off the ground and not in control which is  exactly how I feel when I’m on a horse.  What a blessing when one of the horse trainers (one of  my new best friends) here at French Camp offered to help me get over my fears. Sooooo, here’s the proof. She showed me how to approach, walk behind, brush, lead, and a bunch of other stuff. J  Then we “walked” the horse teaching him who’s the boss. (I can do that much better with people than I can with horses.) J  Finally, I got up on the horse. I hate to say it, but that’s still pretty scary for me.  I may try it one more time, but then again, maybe not. When you’re on the horse, you can’t see how big and beautiful it is and that’s really what draws me to them. Soooo, I’m thinking maybe I’ll just admire them from the ground. 

Bill was kept very busy in the fab shop section of the maintenance department…fixing, repairing, or making whatever anybody came and asked him to do. He loved it. In addition to that Bill substituted in a dorm two Monday nights. This meant he filled in for the dorm dad. The following Monday’s had him working with the Boy Scout troup helping them fulfill their badges in welding and metalworking for Eagle Scouts. Once again, this took him to the machine shop where he explained all the equipment and then helped the guys get started with their individual projects. He had three different groups of guys that he worked with spread out over several more Monday nights.  I kept busy continuing my work in the Admin Office helping record donations.  I admit it’s not my favorite thing to do, but I know how much they need the help especially during this time of year.

Bill was also able to engage in several sporting activities to support and encourage the students. (He just loves doing that.) We had a cross country meet right across the parking lot one Saturday morning. And then Bill travelled to the state meet while I stayed home and helped with a student activity (more about that later).  Bill also went to the football playoff game about two hours from here and I and my Mississippi sister did a little shopping in a town not quite that far away. It’s kinda funny, that here we are living a life of travel and I really hate being in the car more than a half hour at a time. That’s one of the reasons, I don’t travel with Bill to the “away” sporting events. Both the events he went to were about two hours away. I’d rather shop (even if I don’t buy). Although on this particular shopping trip, I did a bit of wardrobe updating which was long overdue.

I guess you know, you’re really a part of French Camp Academy when you’re asked to help with one of the weekend activities. Staff members rotate responsibility for student weekend activities and we were asked to assist at The Zombie Research Institute. Bill was going to help as well but as I mentioned above, he went to a football playoff game. It would take too long to explain it and I was too engaged to take pictures. Let’s just say, I find it quite amazing and inspiring with what the staff puts together for the students to have some fun, interactive activities. 

We love attending student events and the choral production honoring veterans was beyond wonderful.  

Sunset on the Gulf Coast

Visiting the Seabee Base

The school closes down for a week long break over Thanksgiving. So, Bill and I decided to spend a little time on the gulf coast. Last year we tried an Airbnb for the first time (In Memphis TN) and loved it. Affordable and relaxing with a great homey feel. Initially, we had planned to go for the three week days prior to Thanksgiving but Bill had just tracked down an old high school buddy that he had been looking for (in Wisconsin) for probably 20 years. He found him in Gulfport MS.  We ended up traveling to Gulfport the Friday before Thanksgiving in time to see, not only his old high school buddy, but several of his children and grandchildren that were visiting from Wisconsin. Bill was so excited to reconnect and reconnect he did. Besides renewing friendships, walking the coast, visiting various points of interest, and eating good food, we spent most evenings just relaxing in an Airbnb located in Ocean Springs owned by a young woman with two dogs and two cats. That could have been NOT fun but they were very sweet animals and fairly well behaved. I find it interesting, in two out of the three Airbnb’s we have stayed at, both were owned by single women with dogs who didn’t have regular television. Just things like Netflix, Hulu, etc. I admit, I know very little how these work, but I learned enough for us to be able to enjoy a show we don’t see any more. During those evenings “at home,” we watched the entire first season and a few episodes of the second season of Royal Pains. As Bill often says about me, sometimes it doesn’t take much to entertain me. This was one of those times.

Thanksgiving day we had the pleasure of sharing a great feast and good fellowship with another independent volunteer couple at the home of a French Camp couple . I prefer smaller dinner parties, so this was perfect…three couples and our hosts’ son. I brought pies…pumpkin and apple with crumb topping, of course. That’s tradition for us. It was real nice sharing the Thanksgiving celebration with new friends. God is good….all the time!

NOTE:  Sorry friends and family as I really meant to have this post done and ready to go by the end of November, however, we all know that didn’t happen. So here’s how things continued through December.

The week following Thanksgiving was our final “independent” volunteer week as a VMM (Volunteer Mobile Missionaries) project kicked off on Friday. Bill continued his work in the maintenance department and I found out I was in hot demand. J  It’s crazy how things work out. I mentioned before that I enjoy working in the thrift store especially keeping the books organized and tidy. I also like to help in the pottery shop applying the initial glazing on the various pieces. Well, both of them said they had work for me to do that last week in November. Problem was that as November comes to an end and December rolls in, it’s time for the annual bread mailings. Because these are tied in with donations, I was also needed to continue my work entering donations. Who would have thought I would be in such high demand. J It’s so wonderful to be wanted. J  I had to put the thrift store and pottery shop off for a bit as donations and bread take priority. Here’s why…the bread mailing is based on donations, so donations have to be entered before the mailings can be completed. Bread mailings??? For those of you who didn’t read last year’s post about the bread mailings, let me give you a quick explanation. There are two big mailings that go out the first week of December. The first one is to donors as a thank you. The second is referred to as Christmas bread. For every $25 donation to French Camp Academy, you can request that a delicious loaf of homemade French Camp bread be sent to anyone in the U.S. as a gift. There’s a lot of organization and detail to these mailings…which is right up my alley but it is a lot of work. I have aches and pains to prove it. But, it’s one of my favorite things to do while we are here. 

The ladies also helped with a much smaller mailing; this one was less than 500. I helped put decorative labels on boxes used for purchased Corporate Gift boxes one day. A few days later, we were filling them with more of that delicious bread along with jams, jellies, or special spreads. Yum! More aches & pains, but so worth it!

The actual project for the VMM guys was gutting one of the houses so it could be reconfigured into four apartments. They did that and then moved on to one of the other staff houses to paint the entire interior. I pretty sure Bill would have enjoyed the demo part in the first house; and I know for a fact that he was pretty happy to miss out on the painting. Bill was asked to continue his work in the maintenance department as his skills there have been so very helpful to so many. He has commented to me many times on how grateful people are for the work he is doing. Praise God for putting us exactly where we need to be. Hallelujah!

We did manage to have a bit of fun and attend some beautiful Christmas concerts and events. Here are a few pictures to speak for me.

Academy Choir Concert (this is only half of the group). They did an amazingly beautiful job.

Decorating for Christmas Historical Luncheon

Christmas Banquet for the Academy. It's a formal affair.

Choctaw County Christmas Parade, Akerman MS

A major Elvis fan owns a restaurant in Ackerman. A real southern culture experience.

A bit of home decorating to get in the spirit of things without the snow to encourage me.

Always a party to thank the volunteers hosted by some wonderful people of French Camp.

So that's that for 2018! In just a few days, I can hardly believe it, we'll be heading to Wisconsin to spend some time celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior with family and friends. But, we're not done with French Camp yet as we will return for one more VMM project in January. Our first time as crew leaders. I think we're ready. As I always say, be blessed and be a blessing especially during this CHRISTmas season! 

I was all done and getting ready to post and we heard singing. Look at this great bunch of dorm kids and adults singing Christmas carols at our door. What a special bunch of people. We are so very very blessed. Thank you, Lord!